Catholic Priesthood

Christianity is necessarily modified by the growth of civilization, and the exigencies of times. Therefore, the Catholic priesthood, though necessary in the Middle Ages, may be superseded now.

Although celibate exclusivity is the issue and decline in the priesthood population is its symptom, the priest shortage is not a story of the faults and failings of latter-day male Catholics too spiritually weak to espouse the celibate state. There is simply no evidence that young priests and candidates for the priesthood are less spiritual nowadays than those of prior generations. Thus, celibacy by itself is not the issue. Furthermore, ascribing the degeneration of an organizational form like the priesthood to the spiritual behavior of individuals is a "grievous misunderstanding" of social reality. The purposive choices of seminarians and priests who decide to enter and remain active in the Catholic priesthood are deeply embedded in social relations that are complex, constantly changing, and riddled with conflict.

The world around the Catholic priesthood has changed dramatically. A matrix of social forces has transformed and continues to alter the core structures of the Catholic Church. The priesthood is at the very center of that structural core. According to my demographic data, the current sociological form of priesthood is in a state of degeneration. Thus, as Catholicism enters its third millennium it faces an imposing dilemma: whether to reinforce male celibate exclusivity in ministry, and thus reproduce the structures of patriarchy, or to reinforce the primordial tradition of Eucharistic sacrifice and hierarchy of control that compose the essence of Catholicism. The last two trends, incorporated by the lay movement and the liturgical movement, sprang up in the middle of the twentieth century. Five or six decades in the making, these social forces now span two generations of Catholics.

The modifications they have introduced in the hearts and minds of churchgoers are now taken-for-granted elements in the structure of contemporary worship and ministry. That is to say, the almost absolute sacramental and hierarchic monopoly of control that marked the Catholic priesthood half a century ago has undergone an irreversible transition.

The theoretical importance of priesthood is emphasized in Weber's distinction between personal charisma and the charisma of office. Weber's disciple Joachim Wach spells out some of the implications of Weber's basic distinctions in a systematic discussion of the religious roles of founder, reformer, prophet, seer, magician, diviner, saint, priest, and member of a religious order. These role types are fluid, but none is more important for understanding the structures and structuring process of the Catholic Church than that of priest. The priestly role, with its emphasis on sacrifice and ritual in general, most easily appropriates the functions of teacher, lawgiver, magician, diviner, and saint. For centuries, the Catholic priesthood has continued to appropriate all but the most trivial ministerial roles: it is not an exaggeration to note that, at least until the final decades of the second Christian millennium, ministry and priesthood were practically synonymous.